1.2.5 SAM D21 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit: Building and Running the OTA Bootloader applications

To clone or download this application from Github,go to the main page of this repository and then click Clone button to clone this repo or download as zip file. This content can also be download using content manager by following these instructions

Path of the application within the repository is apps/ble/external_memory/

To build the application, refer to the following table and open the project using its IDE.

• To run the demo, the following additional hardware are required:

  • RNBD451 Add On Board
  • EEPROM 4 click board
  • mikroBUS Xplained Pro board - 2 boards

• Short J2-1 and J2-2 using jumper in the RNBD451 Add On Board

• Install an RNBD451 Add On Board on to the mikroBUS Xplained Pro board board 1

• Connect mikroBUS Xplained Pro board to the EXT1 header

• Install an EEPROM 4 click board on to the mikroBUS Xplained Pro board board 2

• Connect mikroBUS Xplained Pro board to the EXT2 header

• Connect the Debug USB port on the board to the computer using a micro USB cable

Setting up the host scripts

• Refer to OTA Bootloader Host Script Help for settings up python scripts which are used in order to update the application binary image

1. Open the OTA bootloader project ota_bootloader/firmware/sam_d21_xpro.X in the IDE

2. Make sure that the ota_app/firmware/sam_d21_xpro.X is added as a loadable project to OTA bootloader application

   • As the external memory may not have any valid binary required by OTA bootloader for the first time, Adding the ota_app as loadable allows MPLAB X to create a unified hex file and program both these applications in their respective memory locations based on their linker script configurations
   

3. Open the Terminal application (Ex.:Tera Term) on the computer

4. Connect to the Virtual COM port and configure the serial settings as follows:

   • Baud : 115200
   • Data : 8 Bits
   • Parity : None
   • Stop : 1 Bit
   • Flow Control : None

5. Build and program the OTA bootloader application using the IDE

6. Once programming is done OTA bootloader starts execution and directly jumps to application space to run the OTA application

   • LED0 starts blinking indicating that the OTA application is running
   • Observe the below message on console
   

7. Open the OTA application project ota_app/firmware/sam_d21_xpro.X in the IDE

8. Update ota_app/firmware/src/app.c to update printf() message from ####### Application running ####### to ####### New Application running ####### as below

   

9. Clean and Build the OTA application project to generate the binary (Do not program the binary)

10. Go to the <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_ota/apps/ble/external_memory/ota_app/firmware/sam_d21_xpro.X/dist/sam_d21_xpro/production/ directory and open the command prompt to run the below command

    python <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_ota/tools/ota_host_mcu_header.py -p 0x2000 -j 0x2000 -l 0x0 -f sam_d21_xpro.X.production.bin
    

    • This command adds OTA Host MCU Header to the application binary. If command executed successful then "image.bin is generated successfully" message display on the command prompt.

11. Run the below command

    python <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_ota/tools/ota_rnbd_header.py -f image.bin
    

    • This command adds OTA RNBD Header to the image.bin and generates RNBD_image.bin application binary. If command executed successful then "RNBD_image.bin is generated successfully" message display on the command prompt.

12. Refer Send application binary using MBD App to program RNBD_image.bin application binary to the target.

13. Once Firmware Update is successful

    • LED0 still blinking indicating that the OTA application is running
    • Observe the below message on console
    

14. Repeat Step 8-13.

    • Observe LED0 still blinking
    • Observe message printed on console